Breakin' Review

MPAA Rating: PG
Released: 1984

Remember the breakdancing craze that swept the nation during the 80's? Relive those memories with Breakin', a dance/musical/drama that serves as little more than a showcase for this unique form of street dancing. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, though! While the film is shallower than the local kiddie pool, it provides a fairly fun and stylistic snapshot of life during the early 80's.

Breakin' isn't a deep drama that invokes an emotional response or much thought. In fact you can quite easily check your brain at the door, for the film is about one thing and one thing only: flashy breakdancing. While there is a light storyline to push the movie along, it won't distract you from the film's main purpose. The writer and director didn't even bother to provide the characters any last names!

I don't preface this Breakin' review with the above in a derogatory manner, because I'm a great fan of a well-done popcorn flick that asks nothing more of me than to have fun. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into before proceeding into the plot summary, since it's even more superficial than the review may sound.

Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) is a cute young jazz dancer that is currently under the tutorage of a lecherous dance instructor named Franco (Ben Lokey). Her dream is to someday leave her thankless waitress job behind and become a serious performer/dancer in expensive productions.

To help her pursue that goal she hires a high-powered manager, James (Christopher McDonald). Around the same time as she hires James she is also introduced to the world of breakdancing by her effeminate dance buddy Adam (Phineas Newborn III). After witnessing two of Adam's buddies show off their street dancing skills – Ozone (Adolfo Quinones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers) – to an enthusiastic beach crowd, she becomes captivated by both Ozone and his unique style of dance.

Ozone and Turbo are skilled dancers to be sure, but their street cred is taking a hit by the reigning champion breakdance group: Electro Rock. Realizing that Electro Rock cannot be beat due to the strength of their third partner – a woman – Ozone loses all hopes of winning a face-off against his long-time nemesis. But when Kelly volunteers to join Ozone and Turbo if they teach her how to breakdance, hope rises anew, and a future dance showdown becomes inevitable.

Meanwhile when Kelly's dance instructor Franco puts the moves on her yet again, Kelly finally decides that it is one time too many and parts ways with him. She later discovers that the jilted Franco is not a good enemy to have, for he uses his clout to try and block her from ever achieving her goals of joining a high-powered dance production.

Now Kelly, Ozone and Turbo, with the aid of her manager James, must try to convince a stodgy group of elderly dance judges to allow her and her partners to compete for a spot in a dance production. Along the way they will have to defend themselves against Franco's manipulations and the judges' inherent bias against the new form of street dancing – a style no one believes has any place in a serious dance production.

Permit me to be blunt for a moment: the storyline is paper thin and cheesy, and the acting doesn't fare much better. But you know what? Who cares! What most of the "actors" lack in acting skills they more than make up for in dancing proficiency. They know how to tear up the dance floor in an almost mesmerizing manner. It also doesn't hurt that the quality dance scenes are complimented by some good old-school rap (some of which is offered by Ice-T himself) and some positively gaudy 80's fashion.

Those looking for a nostalgic breakdancing trip down memory lane will find Breakin' to be a fun diversion, but anyone that didn't grow up in the 80's will probably roll their eyes at this shallow time capsule.

Movie rating: 6 stars

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